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him, that he may bear thy charges out of the stock that is in thy Elder Brother's hand; and "go in his strength, making mention of his righteousness."

10thly, Art thou, under the burden of much darkness, crying, with Job, "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him?" &c. Job. xxiii. 8.Well, be comforted; for "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. Unto you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." And therefore say thou with the church, Mic. vii. 9: "He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness."— Again;

11thly, Art thou burdened with the Lord's distance from thy soul," because the Comforter that should relieve thy soul, is far from thee?" Lam. i. 16: Well, be comforted, "He will not contend for ever," he has promised to return, Is. liv. 7, 8. The Lord cannot keep up himself long from the poor soul that is weeping and groaning after him; as we see in Ephraim, Jer. xxxi. 18, &c. Again;

12thly, Art thou burdened with the fear of death? Know, for thy comfort, the sting of death is gone, and it cannot hurt thee: Hos. xiii. 14: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plague; O grave, I will be thy destruction."

Lastly, Art thou burdened with the death of the righteous, particularly with the loss of faithful ministers? Well, be encouraged, that though the Lord take away an Elijah, yet the Lord God of Elijah lives, and the residue of the Spirit is still with him. And therefore take up David's song, and sing, “The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted."

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146

SERMON VI.

THE BELIEVER EXALTED IN IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.-Is. XLV. 24, 25.

[The subject of the following discourse is high, noble, and excellent.But my design at that time, being only to preface a little before the action-sermon, by that eminent and worthy servant of Christ, Mr. William Moncrief, I took care to abridge my thoughts upon it as much as possible. I have since handled the same text, in my ordinary, at far greater length. But the discourse having been quarrelled with, as was hinted in the preface to that on Rev. iii. 4, I judged it fit to send it abroad, in the very same dress in which, to the best of my remembrance, it was delivered. It is not accuracy of style or method I set up for, but the edification of the poor, to whom the gospel is preached; and therefore shall contend with none upon those heads. But as for the doctrines here delivered, if I durst not hazard my own salvation upon the truth of them, I had never adventured to preach them as the truths of God to others. I am fully persuaded, that one great reason why the gospel has so little success in our day, is, because our discourses generally are so little calculated for pulling down our own, and exalting the righteousness of Christ, as the alone foundation which God hath laid in Zion. Our sermons lose their savour and efficacy for salvation, if this be wanting: and I humbly think the great apostle Paul was of this mind, Rom. i. 16, 17: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth." And if any ask, Whence comes the gospel to have such power to salvation? He immediately answers, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith."]

In thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.-PSAL. LXXXix. 16.

THE psalmist, in the beginning of this psalm, having run out at great length in the praise and commendation of the God of Israel, proceeds, from the 15th verse of the psalm, to declare the happiness of his Israel, or of true believers, of whom Israel according to the flesh were a type.

Preached at the celebration of the Lord's supper, at Largo, Sabbath morning, June 4, 1721.

counts.

VL L] THE BELIEVER EXALTED in imputed righteouSNESS. 147 Now, God's Israel are a happy people upon several ac1. Because they are privileged to know the joyful sound, in the beginning of the 15th verse. The gospel has a joyful sound; a sound of peace, a sound of life, a sound of liberty and salvation. You are all privileged to hear this sound with your bodily ears; but the great question is, do you know it, understand it, and give faith's entertainment to it? Alas! Isaiah's lamentation may but too justly be continued, with respect to the greatest part of the hearers of the gospel, "Who hath believed our report?" 2. God's Israel are a happy people, because they "walk in the light of his countenance," in the close of the 15th verse. They are privileged with the special intimations of his love, which puts more gladness in their hearts, than when corn, wine and oil abound.3. Whatever discouragement they may meet with from the world, yet still they have ground of rejoicing in their God: "In thy name shall they rejoice all the day;" and, "Thanks be unto God," says the apostle, "who always causeth us to triumph in Christ." 4. Their happiness is evident from this, that they are dignified and exalted above others, by the immaculate robe of a Surety's righteousness; as you see in the words of my text, In thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

In which words briefly we may notice, 1. The believer's promotion; he is exalted. In the first Adam we were debased to the lowest hell, the crown having fallen from our heads: but in Christ, the second Adam, we are again exalted; yea, exalted as high as heaven, for we "sit together with him in heavenly places," says the apostle. This is an incredible paradox to a blind world, that the believer, who is sitting at this moment upon the dunghill of this earth, should at the same time be sitting in heaven in Christ, his glorious head and representative; and yet it is indisputably true, that we "sit together with him in heavenly places," Eph. ii. 6. Yea, in him he "rules the nations with a rod of iron," and triumphs over, and treadeth upon all the powers of hell. 2. We have the ground of the believer's preferment and exaltation; It is in thy righteousness. It is not in any righteousness of his own; no; this he utterly disclaims, reckoning it but dung and loss, filthy rags, dogs' meat: but it is in thy righteousness; that is, the righteousness of God, as the apostle calls it, Rom. i. 17: "The righteousness which is of God by faith," Phil. iii. 9. The righteousness of God is variously taken in scripture.Sometimes for the infinite rectitude and equity of his nature: Psal. xi. 7: "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness."Sometimes for his rectoral equity, or distributive justice, which he exercises in the government of the world, rewarding the good, and punishing evil-doers; Psal. xcvii. 2: “Jus

tice and judgment are the habitation of his throne." Sometimes it is put for his veracity and faithfulness in accomplishing his word of promise, or in executing his word of threatening; Psal. xxxvi. 5, 6: "Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds: thy righteousness is like the great mountains." Sometimes it is put for the perfect righteousness which Christ, the Son of God as our Surety and Mediator, brought in, by his obedience to the law, and death on the cross, for the justification of guilty sinners; and this, as I said, is frequently called the righteousness of God: and in this sense I understand it here in the text, In thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

The observation is much the same with the words themselves; namely, That in, or by, the righteousness of Christ, believers are exalted. Or thus, To whatever honour or happiness believers are exalted, the righteousness of Christ is the ground and foundation of it. It is all owing to the complete obedience, and meritorious death of the ever-blessed Surety. This is "the foundation which God hath laid in Zion," upon which all our happiness in time and through eternity is built.

I have not time now to adduce parallel texts of scripture for the confirmation of this doctrine, neither can I stand upon a long prosecution of it, considering what great work you have before you through the day. All I shall do, shall be only,

I. To offer a few propositions concerning this righteousness, that you may understand both the nature and necessity of it.

II. Give you a few of its properties, to clear its excellency.

III. Speak a little of the believer's exaltation by virtue of this righteousness.

IV. Apply.

I. For the first thing, to offer a few propositions respecting this righteousness for clearing its nature and necessity.

1. Then, you would know, that God having made man a rational creature, capable of moral government, gave him a law suited to his nature, by which he was to govern himself in the duties he owed to God his great Creator. This law was delivered to man in the form of a covenant, with a promise of life upon the condition of perfect obedience, and a threatening of death in case of disobedience, Gen. ii. 17.Thus stood matters between God and man in a state of inno

cence.

2. Adam, and all his posterity in him, and with him,

having broken the covenant, are become liable to the curse, and penalty of it; so that our salvation is become absolutely impossible, until justice be satisfied, and the honour of the broken law repaired. The law and justice of God are very peremptory, and stand upon a full satisfaction and reparation, otherwise heaven's gates shall be shut, and eternally barred against man and all his posterity. The flaming sword of justice turns every way, to keep us from access to the paradise that is above.

3. While man in these circumstances, was expecting nothing but to fall an eternal sacrifice to divine justice, the eternal Son of God, in his infinite love and pity to perishing sinners, steps in as a Mediator and Surety; offering not only to take our nature, but to take our law-place, to stand in our room and stead: by which the whole obligation of the law, both penal and preceptive, did fall upon him; that is, he becomes liable and obliged both to fulfil the command, and to endure the curse of the covenant of works, which we had violated. And here, by the way, it is fit to advertise you, that it was an act of amazing grace in the Lord Jehovah, to admit a Surety in our room; for had he stood to the rigour and severity of the law, he would have demanded a personal satisfaction, without admitting of the satisfaction of a Surety: in which case Adam, and all his posterity, had fallen under the stroke of avenging justice through eternity. But "glory to God in the highest," who not only admitted of a Surety, but provided one, and "laid help upon one that is mighty."

4. Christ, the eternal Son of God, being in "the fulness of time, made of a woman, and made under the law," as our Surety, he actually, in our room and stead, fulfilled the whole terms of the covenant of works; that is, in a word, he obeyed all the commands of the law, and endured the curse of it, and thus brings in a complete law-righteousness; by which guilty sinners are justified before God. And this is the righteousness by which we are exalted. By his active and passive obedience, he magnifies the law, and makes it honourable, and the Lord declares himself to be well pleased for his righteousness' sake.

Although Christ obeyed the law, and satisfied justice, and thus brought in an everlasting law-righteousness for a whole elect world; yet the elect of God are never exalted by virtue of this righteousness, till, in a day of power, they be brought to receive it by faith, and submit to it for justification before God. We disclaim that Antinomian error, of an actual justification from eternity, or yet of a formal justification, bearing date from the death of Christ. We own, indeed, with all sound Protestant divines, that it was the pur

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